Disclaimer: Zootopia stories, characters, settings, and properties belong to the Walt Disney Co. This story is written under Fair Use Copyright laws.
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The Fire Triangle-A Zootopia Fanfiction
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Part One:
Fuel
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Chapter 7-Tying Up Loose Ends
(Pt. 3...Continued)
"Oh no, not YOU again!"
"Wil-LIE! Now, is that any way to talk to an old friend?" Nick Wilde was spreading his arms as if preparing to embrace a long, lost brother.
Willie Pond did not return the gesture; instead, the muskrat turned hurriedly away, preparing to make a fast exit, stage right ...only to find his way blocked by a smiling Judy Hopps. Behind him, he heard the fox's voice again. "Is that any way to talk to an old friend, Carrots?"
"I should say not, Nick," she answered, smile fading rapidly as her paws moved to her hips. "Walking away from us without even so much as a, 'how-de-do'...and after all the time we've known each other!" She flicked away a stage tear, "I-I can't believe he's treating us like this."
Nick's ears turned backwards as he and his partner closed in on the hapless rodent, "There, now look what you've done, Willie; you hurt Hopps' feelings. Are you happy with yourself?"
The big rodent only backed himself against a pillar and threw up his paws, as though awaiting the order to 'assume the position.' All around him, the late-morning commute continued; animals of all sizes and species moving to and from their trains. Here and there, a few of them paused briefly, but most just continued on their way, with hardly a sidelong glance at the spectacle
Willie had been working the Zootopia Central Train Station for a number of years now. His forte was one of the oldest hustles known to mammal-kind; he was a bunko-steerer, a scammer who specialized in directing unsuspecting animals to crooked games of chance-and his favored marks were always out-of-towners from rural areas. Anyone showing up in ZTA Central dressed like Farmer John was a magnet for the devious muskrat.
Unfortunately for him, a year previously he had spotted what looked like the juiciest mark in months, a rabbit-hick and his wife, fresh off the train from Bunnyburrow. Willie had immediately put his hooks into the hayseed, blissfully unaware that Stu and Bonnie Hopps were supposed to meet their daughter Judy for lunch at any moment.
And also that she had just arrived and was standing right behind him.
When she'd brought the muskrat into Precinct One, Nick Wilde had been there, and he'd had a suggestion for his partner.
"I've known Willie Pond off and on for years Carrots; he'll do anything to stay out of jail. If it was me who'd busted him, I'd try to develop him as a snitch instead of pressing charges."
That had turned out to be one of the best pieces of advice Judy ever got from the fox. If Willie Pond wasn't exactly a gold mine of information, he was no dry hole either. Once he had even volunteered an especially scintillating piece of intelligence-about an illegal cage fight in the Nocturnal District where the antagonists were given hits of Nighthowler before entering the arena; sometimes, they even fought to the death.
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The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One
Mystery / ThrillerIt's been two years since Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps broke the Savage Predator conspiracy. Now a brilliant and effective team, they're only a few steps away from making the detective bureau and growing closer with every passing day. But even as thei...
